Condition Responsive Indication Assembly

ABSTRACT

A method for alerting a user of a first portable communications assembly that another user of a second portable communications assembly is within a predetermined distance includes the step of receiving a distance signal transmitted by the transmitter in the second portable communications assembly. A distance between the first and second portable communications assemblies based on the distance signal is calculated based on the strength of the distance signal or based on a time stamp embedded in the distance signal. An alert is emitted when the distance calculated between the first and second portable communications assemblies is less than the predetermined distance.

This patent application is a continuation of co-pending patent application having U.S. application Ser. No. 15/898,577, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 10,383,384, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 9,538,801, which is a division of U.S. Pat. No. 9,177,458, which is a division of U.S. Pat. No. 9,013,297, filed on Oct. 17, 2014.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to condition responsive indicating systems. More particularly, the invention relates to condition responsive indicating systems that include personal portable devices, to be worn or carried by individuals.

2. Description of the Related Art

The current landscape for monitoring and analyzing data to improve health and safety outcomes shows significant potential for improvement. For example, industrial safety has traditionally focused on three things: (i) providing equipment for physical protection of the worker (e.g., hardhat, shoes, gloves, eye and hearing protection); (ii) training the worker to avoid possible safety incidents (e.g., seminars, certificate on the job training); and (iii) auditing safety behavior and taking corrective actions. Depending on the underlying industry, some form of interaction/communication between the worker and his/her environment is typically added to the safety equipment (e.g., radio, carbon monoxide monitor).

On average, an entity may expend thousands of dollars per person per year on discrete health and safety equipment and training, which varies depending on industry specific requirements. More recently, industrial safety applications are increasingly using IT systems to improve safety processes as well as tracking safety compliance. Those solutions are either hardware solutions (e.g., PDAs, asset tracking) or software solutions (e.g., certification and compliance tracking, safety management dashboards).

All the current industrial safety solutions, however, are facing one major issue: once the worker has received his/her equipment and training, the responsibility to comply with the safety standards remains with the worker, depending on many cases on his/her experience and personal foresight on how to behave and react in a certain situation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for alerting a user of a first portable communications assembly that another user of a second portable communications assembly is within a predetermined distance includes the step of receiving a distance signal transmitted by the transmitter in the second portable communications assembly. A distance between the first and second portable communications assemblies is calculated based on the distance signal. An alert is emitted when the distance calculated between the first and second portable communications assemblies is less than the predetermined distance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Advantages of the invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic environmental view of one embodiment of the assembly;

FIG. 2 is a side view in partial cross section of one embodiment of a wearable device;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the wearable device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the hardware incorporated into the wearable device;

FIGS. 5A through 5C illustrate a flow chart of a method relating to the presence of hazardous conditions; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart for a method designed to alert others of the close proximity of others.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a communications assembly is generally indicated at 10. The communications assembly 10 facilitates communication between a central processing unit 12 and a plurality of portable communications assemblies, which will be discussed in greater detail subsequently. The central processing unit 12 collects all data and communication and passes it to an applications platform 14. The applications platform 14 may include such functions as data aggregation, data storage, notifications, alarms, location services, an analytics engine, report generator, display and user interface. The central processing unit 12 also includes a data storage facility 16, an application programming interface (API) 18, an application binary interface (ABI) 20, and an incident identification module 21 (discussed in greater detail subsequently).

Multiple copies of the central processing unit 12 are shown at 12′ and 12″. These multiple copies 12′, 12″ of the central processing unit 12 may either work cooperatively to increase functionality or independently to provide for system redundancy.

The API 18 provides for an extension of the central processing unit 12 for the development and augmentation to the central processing unit 12 of additional software applications. By way of example and as is shown in FIG. 1, a safety application 22 is connected to the central processing unit 12 through the API 18. Two additional third-party applications 23, 25 are also shown as exemplary modules that provide additional function as deemed necessary by the specific deployment of the communications assembly 10.

The communications assembly 10 also includes a communications hub, generally shown at 24 in FIG. 1. The communications hub 24 is operatively connected to the central processing unit 12 and receives communications through a communications bus 26. The communications bus 26 may be local to the communications hub 24 or it may be local to the central processing unit 12 as it is contemplated that communication between the communications hub 24 of the central processing unit 12 may be through an electrical network or wirelessly through any wireless protocol deemed appropriate for the communication between the communications hub 24 and the central processing unit 12. The communications hub 24 may include a plurality of central base stations 24 a, 24 b, 24 c. These central base stations 24 a, 24 b, 24 c may act independently of each other and may be located remote from each other depending on the deployment of the communications assembly 10 in the particular environment in which it is deployed.

The central base stations 24 a, 24 b, 24 c communicate with remote base stations 28 a, 28 b. The remote base stations may be further distributed throughout a particular environment in which the communications assembly 10 is deployed. The remote base stations 28 a, 28 b collect data and generate notifications and/or alarms that will be passed on to the communications hub 24 and eventually the central processing unit 12, either directly or via the peer-to-peer mesh network. The remote base stations 28 a, 28 b serve as back up connections, given that these remote base stations 28 a, 28 b could also be bypassed by having remote transceivers connected directly to the central base stations 24 a, 24 b, 24 c, as will be discussed in greater detail subsequently. A remote communications bus 30 may extend between the remote base stations 28 a, 28 b and the central base stations 24 a, 24 b, 24 c.

The communications assembly 10 also includes a plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 that are operatively connected to the central processing unit 12 vis-à-vis the communications hub 24. Each of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 transmit remote communications to the central processing unit 12 through the communications hub 24 and receive central communications transmitted by the central processing unit 12, which are also transmitted through the communications hub 24. As can be seen by bidirectional arrows 34, the portable communications assemblies 32 may communicate with each other in a peer-to-peer mesh network. Bidirectional arrows 36 show that the portable communications assemblies 32 may also communicate bidirectionally with the remote base stations 28 a, 28 b. And finally, a bidirectional arrow 38 graphically illustrates the portable communications assemblies 32 being able to communicate directly with a central base station 24 a of the communications hub 24. The portable communications assemblies 32 are designed to facilitate communication in a manner which optimally transfers data that will allow for the most efficient data transfer and action, if necessary, based on the data being delivered. The portable communications assemblies 32 also include a plurality of contextual sensors that will sense conditions. The sensed conditions will be stored locally at the portable communications assembly 32 and/or communicated away from the portable communications assemblies 32 to other portable communications assemblies 32 or to the central processing unit 12, the central base stations 24 or the base stations 28.

The incident identification module 21 receives the remote communications from the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 and identifies a portion of the remote communications from a portion of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 as indicating a situation requiring a communication to be sent to the portion of the plurality of portable communications assemblies. In one embodiment, the incident identification module 21 identifies when a situation arises that, based on the readings received in the remote communications, may affect the individuals wearing the portion of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 that are producing those remote communications. By way of example, if a portion (one or more) of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 measure high carbon monoxide levels, the incident identification module 21 will issue a warning that the central processing unit 12 transmit back to the portion of plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 that either measured the high carbon monoxide levels or are in close proximity of those so those individuals know to immediately leave the area.

The communications assembly 10 also includes a plurality of charging stations 40. The charging stations 40 may be dispersed throughout disparate locations within the environment in which the communications assembly 10 is being deployed or may even be worn by individuals carrying one of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32. The charging stations 40 will either charge an energy storage device, such as a battery, built within the portable communications assemblies 32 or will be able to charge an energy storage device that is removable from the portable communications assemblies 32. Design parameters will dictate how the energy storage device will be connected to the portable communications assemblies 32, which may include battery size, the parameters within which the portable communications assembly 32 operates, and/or the environment in which the portable communications assemblies 32 are being deployed.

Referring to FIGS. 2 through 4, the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 are more specifically shown. In a preferred embodiment, the portable communications assembly 32 is a wearable device 44. More specifically, the wearable device is shown as a hardhat 44, and while this example will be used for the remainder of the description, one skilled in the art should appreciate that the wearable device may be another article of protective clothing or merely clothing and still be within the scope of the invention.

The hardhat 44 includes additional hardware that allows the portable communications assembly 32 to communicate with the central processing unit 12, its peer portable communications assemblies 32, remote base stations 28, or the central base stations 24. The hardhat 44 includes a hard-outer shell 46 with a hard bill 48 to which a visor 50 may be attached. The visor 50 is transparent to allow the individual wearing the hardhat 44 to see therethrough. An adjustment belt 52 is adjustable using a tensioning device 53 that allows the hardhat 44 to be worn comfortably but securably by the individual assigned to that hardhat.

A control unit 54 is affixed to the wearable device 44. A contextual sensor 56 that measures biometrics is electrically connected to the control unit 54. The contextual sensor 56 is also affixed to the wearable device 44 in a manner such that the contextual sensor may sense a condition of the individual wearing the wearable device 44. In this instance, the contextual sensor 56 is a biometric sensor 56. The biometric sensor 56 senses the condition and creates a biometric signal that is transmitted to the control unit 54. The portable communications assembly 32 also includes a second contextual sensor 58 that measures environmental parameters. It too is electrically connected to the control unit 54. The environmental sensor 58 is also affixed to the wearable device 44 in a manner such that the environmental sensor 58 senses an environmental condition local to the individual. The environmental sensor 58 may be spaced apart from the individual. The environmental sensor 58 creates an environmental signal and transmits that environmental signal to the control unit 54.

The control unit 54 coordinates the storage of the signals it receives. In addition, the control unit 54 preprocesses the signals received in order to determine whether the signals should be forwarded onto the central processing unit 12 or whether it should immediately dispatch a warning signal, discussed in greater detail subsequently.

A communications unit 60 is electrically connected to the control unit 54 and transmits the biometric and environmental signals from the control unit 54 to a location remote of the wearable device 44. As is shown in the example in FIG. 1, the communications unit 60 will transmit the biometric and environmental signals away from the portable communications assembly 32 to either another portable communications assembly 32, a base station 28 a, 28 b, and/or a central base station 24 a, 24 b, 24 c of the communications hub 24. By the wearable device 44 having a communications unit 60 therein, the portable communications assembly 32 may communicate with other portable communications assemblies 32, or a central processing unit 12 of a communications assembly 10.

The portable communications assembly 32 includes a power supply 62 that provides power to all the elements of the portable communications assembly 32 that require power. The power supply 62 may be removable such that power supplies may be interchanged allowing the individual wearing the portable communications assembly 32 to continue performing his or her functions by merely swapping out the power supply 62 with another one.

The portable communications assembly also includes the user interface 64 to provide information to the individual wearing the portable communications assembly 32. The user interface 64 may be a radio or some other form of audio communication. In addition, the user interface may include a haptic device or vibrator 66 and/or a visual communication device 68 fixedly secured to the bill 48 or visor 50 of the hardhat 44.

The visual communication device 68 may be a set of LEDs that provide different colored lights to indicate if there are certain occurrences or other events that require the individual wearing the wearable device to know the status. In one example, a green light may indicate that all of the systems are operating and there is no issue with any of the readings being taken. A yellow light may warn the individual that something may be occurring that will require the individual's attention. And finally, a red light may indicate that the individual must take prompt action to avoid or avert a situation that may be potentially dangerous. For example, a red light may indicate to the individual that a carbon monoxide sensor has identified high levels of carbon monoxide in a particular area and that the individual must leave that area as soon as possible.

Additionally, the visual communication device 68 may include a heads-up display that could display data in a manner that it appears to be on the visor 50 of the helmet 44. The data could be the light codes discussed above, alphanumeric messages, visual images, or any combination thereof.

The portable communications assembly 32 also includes a linking port 70 allowing the portable communications assembly 32 to be electrically connected to another portion of the communications assembly 10 allowing it to electrically download any information that is stored locally on the portable communications assembly 32. The linking port 70 would be electrically connected to a storage device 72 that would store the data collected by the biometric 56 and environmental 58 sensors. (Examples of a biometric sensor 56 include a heart rate sensor 56 a, a body temperature, an oxygen level sensor, a blood pressure sensor, and the like. Examples of an environmental sensor 58 include a carbon monoxide sensor 58 a, an ambient temperature sensor, a radiation sensor, a pressure sensor, a noxious fumes sensor, an accelerometer, and the like. These lists are intended to be exemplary and are not to be considered in any way limiting.)

The wearable device may also include a third contextual sensor such as a camera 74 that may take images or video as seen by the individual wearing the portable communications assembly 32 which could be stored in the storage device 72 or communicated back to the central processing unit 12 of the communications assembly 10 via radio communication 64 or the communications unit 60.

Referring specifically to FIG. 4, a schematic representation of the portable communications assembly 32 is generally indicated. The user interface 64 includes such elements as a visual display 68, an audio output 80, the haptic actuator (a vibration actuator) 66 and an emergency light 84. As discussed above, the visual display 68 may be shown upon the visor 50 of the hardhat 44. The audio output 80 may be a speaker for voice transmission or for an alarm. The emergency light 84 may be a strobe light. The user interface 64 includes switches, potentiometers and alarm switches 86 and a video camera/microphone combination 88 (only a video camera 74 is shown in FIG. 3). These devices 86, 88 provide information to the central processing unit 12 of the communication assembly 10. A bidirectional audio interface allows communication between the individual wearing the wearable device 44 and those that may be stationed at the central processing unit 12. In addition to the biometric 56 and environmental 58 sensors, a location and contact sensor 92 may provide inputs into the control unit of the wearable device 44 that provide where the wearable device 44 is. Other such sensors may identify how fast it is going, its location and orientation through uses of accelerometers and gyroscopes, RFID sensors and GPS. Input and output controllers 94 control the flow of communication.

The storage device 72 in the portable communications assembly 32 may include onboard firmware 95, onboard flash storage 96 and redundant flash storage 98. Communication controllers 100 control the communication between all the different systems that are going to be used to control the communication between the wearable device 44 and the surrounding communication assembly 10. The portable communications assemblies 32 may include several different types of transceivers to facilitate as much communication as possible. By way of example, a transceiver may include a WIFI transceiver 102, a GSM transceiver 104, a Bluetooth® transceiver 106, an RFID transceiver 108, a ZigBee® transceiver 109 and/or a satellite transceiver. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of transceivers may be used without avoiding the scope of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. A system bus 110 provides communication between all of these units.

The power supply 62 is more specifically shown to include power management circuits 112, a primary detachable and rechargeable battery 114 and a redundant detachable and rechargeable battery 116.

Referring to FIGS. 5A through 5C, wherein circled letters connect flow chart lines between FIGS. 5A and 5B, a method for communicating between a central processing unit 12 and a plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 is generally indicated at 200. The method begins at 202 with the powering on the portable communications assembly 32. Initialization in the starting of the method then begins at 204. Sensors in the system are initialized at 206. A stored onboard configuration 208 is input into the system when it is loaded, and the notification settings are set at 210. A power test is run at 212. It is then determined whether the power on test was successful at 214. If not, a notification is indicated at 216 and the portable communications assembly 32 is stopped at 220. This is done for each of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32. Communications are then transmitted from each of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 to the central processing unit 12. This is done at step 222. The sensors are those that are the environmental 58, biometric 56 and contextual 92 sensors. The device status is also transmitted. Notification from the central processing unit 12 is also transmitted. Notifications from other remote portable communications assemblies 32 are presented and if any user manually presses an SOS button, it is also presented. The data is received by the central processing unit 12 at 224. An event queue 226 identifies and labels each received communication, sensors are read at 228, and all of the data is normalized and prioritized based on the particular configuration at 230. The prioritization of the data follows the table shown in FIG. 5C.

If it is determined that a notification is to be presented locally to an individual portable communications assembly 32, it is done so at 232. The notification may be audio, visual or haptic at 234. The memory device 72 stores the notification and logs it in its database. A local notification 232 will occur when it is identified that a portion of the plurality of the portable communications assemblies 32 send communications indicating a conditional threshold has been met.

It is then determined at 236 whether the event was generated locally. If not, it is determined whether the remote notification is from the base station or its peers at 238. If the event was generated locally at 236, the event is sent to the base station at 240 where it is also logged on the onboard storage 72. If the event generated was done so remotely, it is then determined whether the event needs to be rebroadcast to a larger portion of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 regarding the threshold limit status at 242. This preprocessing of the signal representing the event is done by the control unit 54 at the individual portable communications assembly 32. If so, the broadcast of the event as notification to peers in a larger portion of the plurality of portable communications assemblies 32 is done at 244. If the event was determined not to be needed to be rebroadcast to its peers (242) it is determined whether an SOS button was pressed at 246. If not, the portable communications assembly 32 returns to the data acquisition subroutine of the method at 224. If the SOS button was pressed at 246, a SOS alarm condition is sent at 248. The SOS alarm is continued to be sent until the device is reset at 250. This method 200 continues until the device is turned off.

Referring to FIG. 6, a specific example of the use of the personal portable device such as the portable communications assembly 32 is shown generally at 300. The method begins at 302. The portable communications assembly 32 is assigned to a user at 304. The location and contact sensor 92 in the portable communications assembly 32 then sends out ranging and advertisement packets at a configurable frequency with the unique identifier assigned to the portable communications assembly 32 at 306.

At defined times or intervals, data collected by the sensors 56, 58, 92 and packets of data are received from all nearby portable communications assemblies 32 at 310. At the same time, a distance signal is also received by the nearby portable communications assemblies 32. In one embodiment, the strength of the distance signal received is used to identify how far away the nearby portable communications assemblies 32 are from the portable communications assembly 32 receiving the data and signals. In another embodiment, a time stamp may be used whereby the time difference between transmission and reception can be used to calculate the distance between portable communications assemblies 32. The distance signaling of other portable communications assemblies 32 is done using any communications technology available, such as Bluetooth®, radio transmission (UWB) and the like. This data is stored at 312. While many things can be done with the data, this example illustrates using the data to determine whether any of the portable communications assemblies 32 are closer than a predetermined distance at 314. In one example, the distance is six feet. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the distance can be any distance determined to achieve a particular goal.

If any two of the portable communications assemblies 32 are closer than the predetermined distance as determined by the distance signal returned, a user alert or alarm is generated at 316. The alarm generated can be any one of the visual, audio and/or haptic indicators provided on the portable communications assemblies 32. Once the alarm has been generated, a violation event report is generated at 320. In this example, the event report is a “social distancing” report. If none of the portable communications assemblies 32 are within the predetermined distance, the method 300 skips the alert 316 and report 320 steps and loops to the next query at 322.

The method 300 then determines whether the portable communications assembly 32 is connected to the central processing unit 12 at 324. If yes, the data stored and the event report are transmitted to the central processing unit 12 at 326, after which it determines whether the user has logged out at 330. If the portable communications assembly 32 is not connected to the central processing unit 12, it immediately loops at 332 to the query of whether the user has logged out at 330.

If the user has not logged out, the method 300 loops back to the step of sending out ranging and advertisement packets at 306. If the user has logged out, the method 300 ends at 334.

The invention has been described in an illustrative manner. It is to be understood that the terminology, which has been used, is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.

Many modifications and variations of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Therefore, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described. 

We claim:
 1. A method for alerting a user of a first portable communications assembly having a receiver that another user of a second portable communications assembly having a transmitter is within a predetermined distance includes the steps of: receiving a distance signal transmitted by the transmitter in the second portable communications assembly; calculating a distance between the first and second portable communications assemblies based on the distance signal; and producing an alert using the first portable communications assembly when the distance calculated between the first and second portable communications assemblies is less than the predetermined distance.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 including the step of producing an event report entry when the difference is less than the predetermined amount.
 3. A method as set forth in claim 2 including the step of storing the event report entry until it is downloaded to a central processing unit.
 4. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the step of receiving the distance signal is performed by receiving a radio signal. 